Present-tense Verbs & Past-tense Verbs
During Grammar this week students reviewed that verbs are words that tell what action someone or something is doing and learned about tenses of action verbs.
Present-tense Verb: a verb that tells what's happening now
Past-tense Verb: a verb that tells what has already happened
Our class learned that past-tense verbs usually have -ed at the end, but not always! Sometimes the verb changes to tell what has already happened.
Examples:
Present-tense Verbs walk hand lift open run drink see drive go | Past-tense Verbs walked handed lifted opened ran drank saw drove went |
Nonfiction Readers Learn About the World
Our class has grown so much as nonfiction readers! It's been wonderful seeing the students use what they've learned about text features to learn more about a topic!
This week students focused on reading informational text about plants. After reading factual information about plants, students went back into the reading to identify text features (captions, keywords, headings). They also answered questions about plants, proving their answers by showing where they found the answer (Ex. I found the answer on page ___! It says... The photograph shows...).
We also discussed that readers need to know more than HOW to read the words in a book. They also need to know what the words MEAN. We practiced saying, "I can read it AND I understand it!" We reviewed how to use a glossary to help us understand new words.
Report Writing
Students have been following the writing process to continue writing their report about an animal of their choice. Students worked on drafting, revising, and editing their writing piece this week. Next week we will begin publishing and students will make a clay model of their animal.
Addition - Numbers to 40
Our class was introduced to adding numbers to 40 this week. We practiced addition without regrouping and addition with regrouping. Please see the strategies below and continue practicing addition with double-digit numbers with your child at home.
Sound and Vibration
This week students participated in a variety of investigations to explore sound and vibration. We focused on making sounds and hearings sounds.
Making Sounds - What causes sound?
Students worked in groups using cups with rubber bands and wooden craft sticks to explore producing sound. We discussed the source of sound and found out it is vibrating. I made a table fiddle and students shared their observations when we plucked the string. Students made a smaller version of a table fiddle called a book fiddle. At the end of the investigation, we learned that sound always comes from objects that are vibrating and vibrating objects always make sound.
Hearing Sounds - What kinds of sounds are easy to identify?
During this investigation, students practiced sound discrimination by listening to the sounds of objects when they're dropped on a hard surface (table). We used drop chambers to identify objects by the properties of their sound. Students were excited to play the Drop Challenge game. During this game, one student dropped one object into the drop chamber. Their partner had to listen to the sound. After hearing the sound, their partner drop in an object he/she thought matched the original object. Next the two students lifted up the drop chamber to find out if the objects were the same.
We also explored tuning forks. We learned that a tuning fork makes sound when it's hit against a wooden block, but it's difficult to observe the vibrations. To confirm that the tuning fork vibrates, we tested it in a variety of ways. After hitting it on a wooden block, we touched it to a card, a plastic cup, a hanging table-tennis ball, and put it in a cup of water. Our conclusion was that the motion of the vibrating tines caused the table-tennis ball to bounce away and the water droplets to fly out of the cup.
New Science Unit - Family Letter
Media and Technology - Using Graphic Sources
This week our class learned that graphic sources are photographs, charts, or pictures and we can use them to get information. Students practiced asking questions about what they saw in different photographs, trying to find answers in the photographs.
Have a good weekend!
- Ms. Allison